The Somali military said that double US strikes near Jilib town killed 16 al Qaeda and al Shabaab fighters, according to Radio Risaala. US Africa Command did not however publish a press release for this event – though it did report a strike on the same date near Tortoroow.

Quoting an anonymous military official, Risaala said that the first strike at Jilib targeted a vehicle carrying group’s chief of Intelligence Unit in charge of Mogadishu, Khalid Aboukar Hassan, while the second raid killed 16 other militants. It was unclear which group Hassan belonged to.

Security Intelligence claimed that “Somali special forces backed by US troops raided al-Shabaab base near Jilib over the weekend. At least 16 al Shabaab militants were killed in the raid that saw a bomb factory and living quarters of the militants destroyed.  According to Somali military officials, the joint troops backed by airpower raided an explosive assembling center near Jilib in Lower Juba region before launching another attack on-base housing al-Shabaab Amniyat elite unit commander, Khalid Abukar Hussein.”

According to Jinaay, 13 fighters died at the bomb factory; while Hassan and his two bodyguards were killed in the other strike.

Asked whether it had been responsible for this event, in February 2020 a senior AFRICOM official told Airwars that this was not the case. However, this may not preclude actions by the CIA which conducts its own undeclared strikes in Somalia

The local time of the incident is unknown.